Electric vehicle truck



April 11, 1939. w A B E H 2,154,262

ELECTRIC VEHICLE TRUCK Filed Oct. 16, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet l WITNESSES; f i gVENg; 5. d 1/75 071 7?: 07? W/m [7227K 1.. When.

ATTOR April 11, 1939. w. A. BRECHT ETAL 7 2,154,262

ELECTRIC VEHICLE TRUCK Filed Oct. 16, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr.11,1939 2,154,262

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE TRUCK Winston A. Brecht and Frank L. Alben. Pittsburgh, Pa., assignors to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application October 16, 1936, Serial No. 105,938

7 Claimsr (01. 105-195) Our invention relates, generally, to truck strucmay be mounted on the axle which it drives and tures and particularly to trucks for electrically the other side resiliently supported in the frame driven railway vehicles. ID by means of springs I 9, in a manner well An object of our invention, generally stated, is known in the art.

.5 to provide a railway vehicle truck structure which In order to provide lateral flexibility, a bolster shall be simple and efilcient in operation and 2|, which 'is provided with an opening 22 for which may be economically manufactured and receiving a truck center pin, is carried by four installed. swing links 23, as shown more clearly in Figs.'3

A more specific object of our invention is to and 4. The bolster 2| is provided with four 10 provide for uniform loading on the axles of a sixdownwardly and outwardly extending arms 24, 10

wheel truck for electrically propelled vehicles. one at each corner of the bolster, to which the Another object of our invention is to provide a lower ends of the swing links 23 are attached large amount of vertical flexibility in a railway by means of pins 25. The upper ends of the vehicle truck. swing links are pivotally secured in the truck 16 Other objects of our invention will be exframe by pins 26. l6

plained fully hereinafter or will be apparent to The truck frame In is also provided with a those skilled in the art. number of arms 21 for mounting a suitable brake According to one embodiment of our invention, rigging 0n the t k- S ce t e b a e rigg the journal boxes on the outer axles of a sixforms no part of the present invention, it has wheel truck are of the wing type with guides been omitted from the drawings in order to 30 operating in an oil bath, which reduces the fricavoid unduly complicating the structure illustion damping to a minimumf The wing journal trated.

boxes are each loaded by a coil spring in parallel In order to provide for vertical movement of with a semi-elliptic spring, one end of which the center axle II in the truck frame, it is suprests on top of a portion of thejournal box. The ported by the usual journalbox 28 which is other end of the semi-elliptic spring rests on the slidably mounted in the frame between pedestal journal box of the middle axle in such a way that jaws 29. A suitable plate 3| is secured across the spring acts as an equalizer. In this manner, the bottom of the jaws 29 to limit the downward the truck frame is so disposed on,the semi-elliptic movement of the journal bOX 28.

30 springs and the coil springs in the wing journal With a view to permitting substantially vertical 30 boxes that the weight on the truck is-equally movement of the outer axles l3 and I4, the divided between the three axles. journal boxes 32, which support the outer axles For a fuller understanding of the nature and are attached to the truck frame l0 by horiobjectsof our invention, reference may be had zontally disposed arms 33 which are pivotally 5-to the following detailed description taken in secured in the frame by means of pins 34. -In 35 conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in this manner, the arms 33 are permitted to oscilwhich: late about their pivot points 34, which permits Figure 1 is a view, in side elevation, of a railthe outer axles to move up and down indeway vehicle truck embodying our invention; pendently of the center axle as the truck passes Fig. 2 is an enlarged view, in plan, of oneover irregularities in the track, thereby afiord 4 half of the truck structure shown in Fig. 1; ing extreme flexibility in the truck structure and Fig. 3 .is an enlarged view, inside elevation, of improving its riding qualities.

one-half of the truck structure, portions being The journal boxes 32 for the outer axles are of cut away for clearness; and the wing type-and each one is provided with a Fig. 4 is a view, partially in section and parhollow member 35, which is closed at the vbottom 45 tially in end elevation, taken along the line IV- by a plate 36 to constitute an oil tight chamber, V 'Of as shown in Fig. 3. A similar member 31 is se- Referring to the drawings, particularly to Fig. cured to the under side of the frame l0 and is L the vehicle truck shown therein comprises a disposed inside of the member 35 to serve as a frame l0 which is supported by a center axle ll, guide memberfor the journal box. It will be 50 having wheels l2, and two outer axles I3 and noted that'sumcient clearance is provided behaving wheels l5 and I6, respectively. The tween the members 35 and 31 to permit moveouter axles l3 and I 4 are provided with electric ment of the axles about their pivot points. Oil motors l1 and I8, respectively, for propelling may be placed in the chamber 35 to reduce the the truck. As shown, one side of each'motor friction between the guide members. A flanged,

- top of the member 35 to retain the oil in the cylinder.

As shown, the wing journal boxes are each loaded by a coil spring 4| in parallel with a semi-elliptic spring 42. The coil spring is disposed inside of the members 35 and 31 to partially support the frame I and one end of the semi-elliptic spring rests on top of that portion of the journal box which surrounds the axle. The other end of the semi-elliptic spring rests on top of the journal box for the center axle and the truck frame l0 rests on the semi-elliptic spring substantially midway between the two axles.

Thus it will be seen that the semi-elliptic springs function as equalizers between the outer and the center axles. Furthermore, the coil springs M are so disposed in the wing journal boxes on the outer axles that they carry a portion of the load, on the frame l0, thereby effecting an equal distribution of the load between the outer and the center axles. This combination of springs results in uniform axle loading, large vertical flexibility, and in a reduced amount of friction damping.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that we have provided a six-wheel railwayvehicle truck which is simple and efiicient in operation and which is particularly suitable for elec-' trically propelled vehicles which operate at relatively high speeds because of the large amount of flexibility and improved riding qualities of I the truck.

We do not desire to be restricted to the specific embodiment of the invention herein shown and described, since it. is evident that it may be changed and modified without departing from the spirit and scope of our'invention as defined in the appended'claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a railway vehicle truck having three axles, in combination, a truck frame, journal boxes for supporting said axles, means for mounting the journal boxes for the center axle in the truck frame to permit vertical movement of said axle, horizontally disposed arms for pivotally connecting the outer axles to the truckframe.

spring means extending between the journal boxes on the outer axles and-the journal boxes 'on the center axle for supporting the truck frame in the truck frame to permit vertical movement equalizers between the outer and the center axles, andadditional spring means disposed between the journal boxes on the outer axles and the truck frame and cooperating with said first named spring means in supporting the truck frame.

3. In a railway vehicle truck having three disposed springs in the support of ring 38 may be placed around the'member 31 on.

axles, in combination, a truck frame, journal boxes for supporting said axles, means for mounting the journal boxes for the center axle in the truck frame to permit vertical movement of said axle, horizontally disposed arms for pivotally connecting the outer axles to the truck frame, horizontally disposed spring means extending between the journal boxes on the outer axles and the journal boxes on the centeraxle for partially supporting the truck frame and functioning as partial equalizers between the outer and the center axles, and additional spring means vertically disposed in the journal boxes on the outer axles'for assisting the horizontally the truck frame.

4. In a railway vehicle truck having three axles, in combination, a truck frame, journal boxes for supporting said axles, means for mounting the journal boxes for the center axle in the truck frame to permit vertical movement of said axle, horizontally disposed arms for pivotally connecting the outer axles to the truck frame, horizontally disposed spring means extending between the journal boxes on the outer axles and the journal boxes on the center axle, the truck frame resting on said springs substantially midway between said axles, whereby said springs function as partial equalizers'between said axles,

and additional spring means disposed in the journal boxes on the outer axles for assisting the horizontally disposed springs in the support of the truck frame;

5. In a railway vehicle truck having three axles, in combination, a truck frame, journal boxes for supporting said axles, means for mounting the journal boxes for the center axle in the truck frame to permit vertical movement of said axle, horizontally disposed arms for pivotally connecting the outer axles to the truck frame, semi-elliptic springs, for partially supporting the truck frame, one end of each spring resting on a journal box for an outer axle and the other end resting on a journal box for the center axle with the truck frame resting on'the spring substantially midway between said axles, whereby said springs function as partial equalizers between said axles, and coil spring disposed in the journal boxes for the outer axles to assist the semi-elliptic springs in supporting the truck frame. i

6. In a railway vehicle truck having three axles, in combination, a truck frame, journal boxes for supporting said axles, means for mounting the journal boxes for the center axle in the truck frame to permit vertical movement of said axle, horizontally disposed arms for pivotally connecting the outer' axles to the truck frame, semi-elliptic springs for partially supporting the truck frame, one end of each spring resting on a journal box for an outer axle and the other end resting on a journal box for the center axle with the truck frame restingon the spring substantially midway between said axles, whereby said springs function as partial equalizers between said axles and,coil springs disposed in the journal boxes for the outer axles to assist the semi-elliptic springs in supporting the truck frame, said coilsprings being disposed to increase the loading on the outer axles Whereby the outer and the inner axles are loaded uni formly.

7. In a railway vehicle truck having three axles, in combination, a truck frame, journal boxes for supporting said axles, means for ner axles, and additional spring means disposed at the sides of the outer axles opposite the pivot connections of said horizontal arms to cooperate with said horizontal springs in supporting the truck frame,

WINSTON A. BRECHT.

FRANK L. ALIBEN. 

